May 26, 2009

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Below: New York Yankees Auxiliary Chart, featuring selected uniforms and logos from the history of the New York Yankees franchise (established in 1901 as a charter member of the American League, as the Baltimore Orioles (II) (1901-1902); the New York Highlanders (1903-1912); the New York Yankees (1913-2009).

Team history with photos…New York Yankees page at the Sports E-Cyclopedia site {click here}.

May 22, 2009

San Luis FC and Chivas Guadalajara withdrew from the Copa L:ibertadores in the wake of the swine flu outbreak. In fact, Mexico has broken all ties with CONMEBOL {see this (MSN.Foxsports.com/soccer)}.

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Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting shocked Boca Juniors, in Buenos Aires on Thursday night, to clinch the final spot in the quarterfinals. Here is an article from ESPN Soccernet, ‘Defensor stun Boca to reach quarter-finals’, {click here}. Here is another article, ’Copa Libertadores top eight’ (sportsya.com) {click here}.

There are four Brazilian teams in the quarterfinals: Cruzeiro, Gremio, Palmeiras, and São Paulo FC; 2 Uruguayan teams: Nacional de Montevideo, and Defensor Sporting; just one Argentinian team: Estudiantes de La Plata; and for the first time in the quarterfinals, one Venezualan team, Caracas FC. It is amazing to consider that there is not a single team representing the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

In the link, you can also see the leading scorers in the 2009 Copa Libertadores, so far. Below is a photo gallery of the top scorers in the 2009 Copa Libertadores, through the Round of 16 . [Note: for best viewing, click once more on the image, after the initial click.]

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {click here, for the 2009 Copa Libertadores page)}.

May 19, 2009

Below: Oakland Athletics Auxillary Chart, featuring selected logos and uniforms from the history of the Oakland Athletics franchise…Philadelphia Athletics, established in 1901 as a charter member of the American League (1901-1954); Kansas City Athletics (1955-1967); Oakland Athletics (1968-2009).

Thanks to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines site, which features uniforms templates drawn by Marc Okkonen {click here (set to Oakland A’s uniforms, 1968-1976)}. Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {click here}. Thanks to MLB shop {click here}. Thanks to Football Fanatics.com/Oakland A’s {click here}. Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {click here, for the page on the Oakland Athletics}.

May 16, 2009

The map shows the four clubs that have gained promotion from the Conference North and the Conference South (the 6th Level of English football). They will play in the 2009-2010 season of the Conference, also known as the Blue Square Premier League, which is the 5th Level of English football, and the highest level of Non-League football. Two of these clubs, AFC Wimbledon and Gateshead, have now gained back-to-back promotions.

The English Football Conference Playoffs Final is Sunday, 17th May, at Wembley Stadium in London . Here is an article from the Guardian.co.uk, by Mikey Stafford: ’Cambridge and Torquay face off in final that’s too close to call’ {click here}. [The winner of this match gains promotion from the Conference to the Football League’s League Two (the 4th Level).

Thanks to Tony’s English Football Site {click here}. Thanks to TheLinnets.co.uk, for the Non-League turnstile count list {click here , for the list of top drawing clubs in Non-League Football (263 clubs)}.

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {click here (set at Football Conference 2009-10)}.

The top 6 clubs in the 2008-2009 English Football League One season are shown on the map. On the right are the two automatically promoted clubs, Leicester City FC and Peterborough United FC. On the left are the four playoff clubs competing for the third promotion spot. At the top right are the average attendances of the clubs on the map, listed numerically in context of the league averages…2008-’09 League One average attendances {click here (Tony’s English Football site)}.

Thanks to Colours of Football site, for the kits {click here (set and England)}.

Thanks to Tony’s English Football Site, for gate figures {click here}.

Thanks to WebbAviation.co.uk {click here (set at Aerial photographs of Leicester)}. Thanks to the Stadium Guide.com {click here}. Thanks to remarkablepeople.co.uk {click here (set at “…all the place we have been [sic]“)}. Thanks to soccervoice.com {click here}.

Wolves clinched a spot for the 2008-’09 Premier League on 18th April. The club from the West Midlands returns to the top flight for the first time since their one-season stint in 2003-’04.

On Sunday, 3rd May, yo-yo club Birmingham City snapped out of their poor late-season form and won the second automatic promotion spot on the last day of the season, with a 2-1 win over Reading, with their eventual winning goal coming from veteran striker Kevin Phillips.

Meanwhile, Preston North End, the club that had put BCFC in that must-win situation with a late winning goal the week before, continued their late-season surge and wrested the final playoff spot, via a 2-1 win over QPR, and courtesy of the late-season collapse of Cardiff City, who finished with 3 straight defeats. Defender Sean St. Ledger headed in the winner for Preston, with 15 minutes to go.

With that goal, Preston North End edged Cardiff City on total goals, the second tie-breaker after their equal goal difference (of plus-12). Preston had 54 goals, Cardiff had 53 goals.

Football League play-off predictions, from the Guardian.co.uk {click here}.

The top 7 clubs in the 2008-2009 English Football League Two season are shown on the map. The three promoted clubs, Brentford FC, Exeter City FC, and Wycombe Wanderers FC, are shown on the right. The four playoff clubs competing for the fourth promotion spot are shown on the left.

On the upper right, there is a list of the 7 clubs’ average attendance this season.

League Two champions Brentford had the third highest average attendance in the league, at 5,707 [for the full list of League Two attendances, {click here}]. This club, from the London Borough of Hounslow, had it’s heyday in the 1930′s, when the Bees reached the First Division (in 1933) and two years later finished in 5th place (in 1935-’36). Brentford ended up having a 5-season run in the English top flight, and had a peak average attendance of 25,768 in 1946-’47 (this was the first English Football League season following World War II, and there were dramatic attendance increases throughout the country). But by 1962, Brentford had dropped to the old Fourth Division. Since then, the club has largely stayed in the 3rd and 4th Levels. In the last 20 seasons, the Bees have spent 3 seasons in the 4th Level, 16 seasons in the 3rd Level, and 1 season in the 2nd Level. That was in 1992-’93, when Brentford drew 8,456 per game. Griffin Park is Brentford’s home. It is a compact ground with a pub on each corner.

Exeter City has won promotion two straight seasons now. The club, from the League football-deficient West Country, have never risen higher than the 3rd Level, so the Grecians return to this level next season makes for some heady times in this corner of Devon. I can’t be certain, due to the lack of lower league attendance figures prior to 1990, but the club seems to have had their best season ever at the turnstiles, with a 4,939 average gate. Exeter’s best gate figures from 1989-’90 to 2007-’08 was when they won the Fourth Division in 1989-’90, drawing 4,859 per game.

Wycombe‘s form dipped in the last third of the season, and the Wanderers backed into their promotion, but that didn’t stop 9,625 from attending their final home match last Saturday (a 1-2 loss to basement-dwelling Notts County).

Gillingham‘s drop in gate figures (to 5,307 per game) can be attributed to their relegation from League One in 07/08, but it must be noted that the club drew 9,600 last Saturday. Shrewsbury Town had only a small increase at the turnstiles (to 5,664 per game) despite their good season, because their gate figures from 07/08 had shot up, as the club had just moved in to New Meadow.

Bury and Rochdale are two clubs from neighboring towns in the northern part of Greater Manchester {see this map of Greater Manchester, here}. Rochdale has spent 35 straight seasons in the 4th Level. The Dale made it to the League two playoff final last season, losing to Stockport County. Bury, known as the Shakers, were in the 2nd Level as recently as 1999 (when it was called the Nationwide League Division One). The club drew 6,179 in 1997-’98. But for years, both these clubs’ fan bases have dwindled, overshadowed as they are by the hugely successful and well-supported Manchester United, and the hapless yet still decently supported Manchester City. Two interesting things about Bury are that their Gigg Lane ground is also home to the 6th Level Non-League club FC United of Manchester; and the fact that Phil and Gary Neville’s father Neville Neville was a fomer chairman of Bury FC, and still works for the club as a non-paid jack-of-all trades, at Gigg Lane.

Thanks to Tony’s English Football Site for the gate figures{click here}. Thanks to EFS site, for older gate figues {click here}. Thanks to the Footy-Mad sites, for their invaluable league history sections on each club {click here (set at Bury FC League history)}.

May 4, 2009

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Defending champions are Sao Paulo, who have won the last three Brazilian titles. On the map, on the far right, I have listed the final table for 2008, including the four relegated clubs, the four clubs promoted from Série B, and the 5 clubs which qualified for the 2009 Copa Libertadores. All 5 of these clubs, incidently, have advanced to the Knockout Round (of 16) in the Copa… Sao Paulo FC, Gremio, Cruzeiro, Palmeiras, and 2008 Copa do Brazil winner (and 11th place league finisher) Sport Recife.

Of the 4 promoted clubs, by far the most popular are SC Corinthians. This massively supported Sao Paulo club will feature former Cruzeiro, PSV Eindhoven, FC Barcelona, Internazionale, Real Madrid and AC Milan striker Ronaldo. And on a personal note, one of my favorite players, Andres D’Alessandro {Wikipedia profile, here}, returns for another spell at Internacional. D’Alessandro, a crafty midfielder, was very instrumental in helping Portsmouth FC avoid relegation in the spring of 2005, and I have kept an eye on him since. And speaking of the oft-overlooked Porto Alegre club SC Internacional, here is a nice blog on the club that I just discovered, run by a Welsh futbol fan… http://Internacionaluk.blogspot.com/ .

May 2, 2009

The Knockout Stage begins with the round of 16. Teams are matched up according to results in the group stage. The two-legged match-ups will be played on May 6 and May 13. Here are the remaining 16 teams’ seeds, the match-ups, and the bracket {click here}. All 5 Brazilian teams have advanced. There are no Colombian or Bolivian teams left in the competition.